[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1340”] Downtown Seattle Crime Report. Source: Seattle Police Department [/caption]

If you’re buying a home in Seattle, you want to make sure you do your due diligence. Last thing you want to do is make an offer on the home that you’ll later regret.

To minimize regret, I’ve created a home buying checklist, targeted for folks who are based in Seattle.

Hope you find it helpful, and good luck with house hunting!

Seattle Home Buying Checklist

1. Sex offender search. It’s always good to know how far convicted sex offenders are from your prospective home.
2. Seattle crime maps. See what kind of crimes are being reported, along with the frequency. Create an account to see police report details.
3. Seattle permit search. Site plans and geotechnical reports offer detailed specs and documentation on what you’re getting into.
4. Seattle GIS reports. There’s no shortage of environmental critical areas in Seattle including abandoned landfills, slide potential, and cute (but intruding) wildlife.
5. Vehicle collision reports. Informative website regarding car collision frequency by neighborhood.
6. Seller Disclosures. Ask your agent for seller’s disclosures. It might provide clues on gotchas to look for.

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“360”] Abandoned landfills near University of Washington. Source: Seattle GIS [/caption]